After years of work and research concerning the needs of audiovisual authors from Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, on November 2018, the Executive Committee of W&DW – Writers and Directors WorldWide – composed of 10 global authors and their colleague members – met in the city of Moscow in a vital step for Audiovisual Authors from the Eurasian region in order to express its full support in the fight for their rights.
This step was so crucial that the President of W&DW, Horacio Maldonado, as well as the Vice-President, Yves Nilly, were called to attend a meeting by the authorities of the Authors’ Rights Department from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, with whom they agreed on the need to defend Authors and expressed their full support.
Thus, FESAAL’s Eurasia regional coordinator – Silvana Jarmoluk– in cooperation with ADAL – Alliance of Latin American Audiovisual Authors – and FESAAL – Latin American Audiovisual Authors Societies Federation – and with the support of Andrey Krichevsky, General Director from the RUR – Russian Union of Right-Holders – as well as the Sub-Director and Chief of the International Area, Mr. Erik Valdés-Martines, decided that the Annual Congress of W&DW be held in the city of Moscow, from March 25th to March 27th, 2019.
This International Council of Dramatic, Literary and Audiovisual works’ Creators was carried out with the purpose to strengthen the region and the Rights of Authors, placing its goals on the Russian, Belarusian and Azerbaijani territories in order to convey the actions carried out worldwide as well as the campaigns for equitable remunerations in favor of authors, in the defense of authors’ rights.
During 2020, the year in which the world had to go through the COVID-19 pandemic, our efforts did not stop and, after months of discussions and debates with authors representing the different international Alliances and Federations, who explained the role fulfilled by these Alliances and the need to create a cooperation framework with the Eurasia region so that it may receive the required aid and support its Authors need, we succeeded to execute an agreement with four sister entities on April 9, 2021, through a virtual meeting where the representatives of the different Alliances from Latin America, Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe were present welcoming the newly created Alliance.
The Eurasia Alliance of Audiovisual Authors is made up of the following associations:
1. Republic of Belarus: Belarusian Union of Screenwriters and Directors (BSSR), located in the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus, whose executive director is Sergei Nikolayevich Girgel
2. Russian Federation: SRL “Guild of Screenwriters”, Moscow, Russia, whose General Director is Elena Raiskaya, who is also the President of the Screenwriters Guild of the Cinematographers Union from the Russian Federation.
3. Russian Federation: Russian Association of Cinematographic and Television Directors, Moscow, Russia, represented by its Executive Director, Dmitry Davidenko.
4. Republic of Azerbaijan: Cinematographic Directors’ Guild from Azerbaijan (AzDG), based in Baku –Azerbaijan, represented by its President, Huseyn Mehtyev.
During the presentation on the video conference, the President of the Cinematographic Directors’ Guild from Azerbaijan, the film director and screenwriter Huseyn Mehdiyev, emphasized that: “we expect that the Eurasia Alliance of Audiovisual Authors contributes to the creation of conditions and mechanisms for a more effective protection concerning authors’ rights of directors and screenwriters who are members of the alliance all over the world. With the development of the mass media and of new technologies, of digital forms and methods, the use of audiovisual works increases every minute and this makes the creation of our Alliance particularly important and promising”.
On the other hand, the President of the Guild of Screenwriters from the Russian Federation highlighted that: “the creation of the Alliance of Audiovisual Societies of Eurasian Authors is a new significant step in the fight of screenwriters and directors towards an equitable remuneration. I hope the Alliance becomes an influential organization which speeds up the adoption of necessary changes in the laws of our countries”.
These emphatic statements conclude with a disbelief stage, which often occurs among audiovisual authors who doubt about their power to achieve an equitable remuneration concerning their authors’ rights and begin to understand the power of alliances among sister societies around the world.
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